Tufts University professor Eitan Hersh presents his unique class on American conservatism and its impact on campus free speech and open dialogue. He discusses the challenges and opportunities of teaching conservative thought in a predominantly liberal academic environment.
Eitan Hersh is a professor of political science. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2011 and was a faculty member at Yale University from 2011-2017.
In March, professor Hersh’s course on conservatism was profiled in Boston Magazine under the headline, “A Conservative Thought Experiment on a Liberal College Campus.”
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:02 Prof. Hersh’s personal political beliefs
03:47 Political diversity among faculty and students
05:14 Hersh’s journey to academia
06:07 What does a conservatism course look like?
09:30 His colleagues’ response to the course
10:29 The challenges of discussing controversial topics
13:28 FIRE’s data on difficult campus topics
17:50 How have campus dynamics changed
19:42 Institutional neutrality
39:14 What are faculty concerned about?
42:18 What is Hersh expecting as students return to campus?
46:41 Outro
Abridged Transcript
Editor's note: This abridged transcript highlights key discussions from the podcast. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Please reference the full unedited transcript for direct quotes.
The impetus for creating a course on American conservatism
PERRINO: So, let's talk about this course that you have at Tufts that was the basis for this Boston Magazine article. It's a class on American conservatism. The article makes it sounds like this isn't a course that you find across the country. You almost needed to build a course anew. It's not like there are syllabi that you could look at from colleagues from across the country in thinking it through. What was your impetus for building this course?
HERSH: When I came back as a faculty, I don't know, seven or something years ago, the student body really had changed such that I rarely encountered conservative students. I rarely encountered religious students of any flavor. I noticed that when I was teaching my regular classes like on elections that students just had no exposure to conservative ideas.
Discussing controversial topics in class
PERRINO: At the start of the course, you issue what Boston Magazine describes as a trigger warning. You note to students that when you first try to articulate a position, you often get it wrong, or it might come out wrong. In other words, you're asking for grace and goodwill. How did that go?
HERSH: At the very beginning of the class I introduce a policy issue that we don't talk about at all in the class, which is circumcision. I bring it up because it's a kind of squirmy topic. It's not something that's really politicized. But it's something that I know people in the classroom will have actually strong disagreements on, to the point that it will feel very personal. [...] I introduce that topic just to say that's what every issue is basically like. You are walking around people who have views you think are vile all the time. That's how we operate here.
Institutional neutrality and university branding
PERRINO: You're speaking about institutional neutrality, that is the idea that a college or university would remain neutral on issues of social or political importance. As you suggest, colleges would issue a statement on Ukraine, or they would issue a statement on the war on the Middle East. Do they find themselves in a quagmire when they start issuing statements? Or do you think they have a moral duty to do so?
HERSH: I think my view is that universities should and can have a diversity of brands, and that some of them that want to be First Amendment style, free speech private schools can have that brand. Those who want to be institutionally neutral, fine. But I also think there should be room for schools, for example, that have more — are more guided by religious ideas, schools that have dress codes and honor codes, and say we don't allow technology here. I think there should be a lot of room for schools like that as well.
Ep. 223: Teaching conservatism on a liberal college campus